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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27018925">Down Comes the Night</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/WizardGlick/pseuds/WizardGlick'>WizardGlick</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Welcome to Hell - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Adults, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Roommates/Housemates, F/F, F/M, M/M, Multi, No Beta We Die Like Sock, Roommates, background liljo, background sockathan</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-07 03:00:30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>11,509</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27018925</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/WizardGlick/pseuds/WizardGlick</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>After a catastrophic fight with Providence, Mephistopheles is turned human and cast down to Earth with a vague understanding of how everything works and the belief that Providence will take him back only after he understands humanity. He is promptly hit by an SUV and adopted by an apartment full of exhausted gay Zillenials who aren't quite sure what to make of him.<br/>[Vaguely inspired by Thor (2011) but diverges from the plot pretty quickly.]</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Mephistopheles/Providence (Welcome to Hell)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>13</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>After my last Meph-centric fic got like no engagement and multiple people asked me for more Sockathan..... I wrote this instead :)</p><p>(I do have more Sockathan stuff in the works! It's just harder to write because I'm a Whole Adult and prefer to read and write about people in my age bracket. No offense to teenagers, you guys are awesome).<br/>Title is from Fleetwood Mac's "The Chain" and has nothing whatsoever to do with the plot. I had an awesome title picked out but it basically spoiled the whole ending so I had to scramble to come up with something and this is where I landed</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Mephistopheles hit the ground feet-first with the ghost of his last argument with Providence still ringing in his ears.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was disorienting, having his awareness reduced and shoved into a human-shaped box. Mephistopheles looked around, reeling. Providence must have put some knowledge in his head, because he realized several things at once that he shouldn't have otherwise known given his total disinterest in Earth:</span>
</p>
<ol>
<li><span>The impact should have killed him, or at least shattered most of his bones and ruptured several of his organs</span></li>
<li><span>He was standing on a beaten-up asphalt road</span></li>
<li><span>An SUV was heading straight towards him, showing no signs of stop--</span></li>
</ol><p>
  <span>Impact.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Mephistopheles hit the ground again. This time, bones </span>
  <em>
    <span>did </span>
  </em>
  <span>break, although thankfully his organs remained intact. His head collided with the cracked asphalt in an explosion of silver stars and agony the likes of which he'd never known.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Having never known pain of </span>
  <em>
    <span>any</span>
  </em>
  <span> capacity before, Mephistopheles wasn’t sure what to do. He lay there trying to figure it out, when it occurred to him to try to speak. He and Providence spoke the language of the cosmos, the details of which evaded him at the moment. He opened his mouth to voice his unhappiness with his current situation, and all that came out was a prolonged, “Fuuuuuuuck.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>English. Interesting.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Two car doors open and shut with overlapping thuds. The sun beamed into Mephistopheles' eyes. He glared at it and looked away when it became too painful.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"What the fuck?!" demanded a feminine voice. A slender body blocked out the sun, and the voice came again, "You can't just run out into the road like that, asshole!"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>A softer, lower voice somewhere out of view said, "Jojo, he's hurt."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"It wasn’t my fault." The figure, apparently called Jojo, leaned over Mephistopheles.  "I'm not liable."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Okay, okay, jeeze, you're not liable." Mephistopheles sat up slowly, wincing at the ache in his ribs, and heard a gasp from behind him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"You're bleeding!"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Lil," Jojo said, planting her hands on her hips.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Yeah, and a couple of my ribs are broken," Mephistopheles said, analyzing the pain signals zipping through his brain. “And my wrist.” Jojo glared at him and he added, "Because I foolishly stepped out in front of your motor vehicle."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"That's right." Jojo's face relaxed a little. "What's your name, anyway?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Uhhhh," said Mephistopheles. He dug in his pockets with his good hand and found that Providence had been kind enough to provide him with not only a garish maroon suit, but a wallet as well. The ID read "Mephistopheles" and he sighed in relief.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Do you not remember?" Lil asked, finally stepping into his field of vision.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"It's Mephistopheles."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"What?" Jojo said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Mephistopheles."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Bless y--"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"</span>
  <em>
    <span>Don't</span>
  </em>
  <span>." Mephistopheles glared up at the cloudless blue sky. He desperately wanted to talk to Providence, but he doubted yelling at the clouds would ingratiate him with these humans.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Jojo," Lil said. "He's </span>
  <em>
    <span>bleeding</span>
  </em>
  <span>."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Oh, yeah," Mephistopheles said. He raised a hand to the back of his head and winced at the sting of renewed pain. The whole area was hot with blood, and he could feel it crawling down the nape of his neck. "That's interesting." He had never bled before. Providence really </span>
  <em>
    <span>had</span>
  </em>
  <span> turned him human.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jojo pointed at the SUV. "Get in, weirdo."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lil and Mephistopheles both looked at her. "Huh?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She sighed and rolled her eyes. "Well, since it was </span>
  <em>
    <span>my</span>
  </em>
  <span> car you happened to step out in front of, I guess I could at least take you to the ER. Like, what if you have a concussion or something?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I don't."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"How do you know?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mephistopheles thought for a moment. He knew he didn't have a concussion the same way he knew his ribs were broken the same way he even knew what ribs </span>
  <em>
    <span>were, </span>
  </em>
  <span>let alone that they could break: It was in his head, as innate as his own name. Providence had been thorough. Perhaps a little </span>
  <em>
    <span>too</span>
  </em>
  <span> thorough, if Jojo’s reaction was anything to go by.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Whatever," Jojo huffed. "Just get in the car."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Cautiously, trying not to jostle his ribs or get blood on the seats, Mephistopheles climbed in the back.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>As they cruised along, he tried to make sense of what had happened. Providence was furious with him, that much was abundantly clear.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"</span>
  <em>
    <span>You just don't understand</span>
  </em>
  <span>," she'd said. Like he'd love humans just as much as she did if he only </span>
  <em>
    <span>understood</span>
  </em>
  <span>. Yeah, right. These insignificant specks of stardust were nothing more than a passing fixation. Providence would get bored without him and bring him home soon enough.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was odd being human, though. It felt wrong, a crawling discomfort that he could only </span>
  <em>
    <span>just</span>
  </em>
  <span> ignore if he didn’t think too hard about it. The general shape was the same, but his mind was wrong.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Why's your name Mephistopheles?" Jojo asked, cutting off his train of thought.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"That's what Providence named me," he answered automatically, wincing when he caught himself a moment too late.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Wait a minute," Jojo said. "Mephistopheles and Providence?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Does that... mean something to you?" Providence had never mentioned that humans knew her name. Or his, for that matter.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Like God?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"What's God?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jojo caught his eye in the rear-view mirror. "You're messing with me."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Unsure of how to answer, Mephistopheles just twisted his mouth into something resembling a smile. "I have a head injury."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Babe, maybe drop it?" Lil said in a voice so low that Mephistopheles could barely hear her over the ambient noise of the car.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They went quiet. Mephistopheles, thinking it best to not talk, dug his wallet out of his pocket again and studied its contents. He had $1000 in varying bills, a bank card, and an ID for the state of New Mexico. He looked at the birth year, then at Lil and Jojo.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"How old are you two?" Mephistopheles asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I have pepper spray and brass knuckles," Jojo said in a warning tone.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mephistopheles wasn’t sure what that meant, but he recognized a threat when he heard one. "Settle down, kid, I was just asking." He wasn’t sure why he’d called her ‘kid,’ but it seemed to flow naturally in his speech. Thinking in this new language was odd and uncomfortable.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lil turned in her seat and looked at him. "I'm 23, she's 24."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Oh," Mephistopheles said. He looked at the ID again. "I'm 32. Is that old?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"No," Lil said, the same time as Jojo said, "Yeah."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"You're sure you don't have a concussion?" Jojo asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Fairly."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Outside, the empty desert gave way to city streets. Mephistopheles frowned thoughtfully. "I think Providence put me in front of you for a reason.” She wouldn’t have just dumped him off somewhere randomly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Oh, so you stumbling into traffic like a dumbass was God's plan?" Jojo scoffed. She sighed, and said almost to herself, "Does </span>
  <em>
    <span>everything</span>
  </em>
  <span> happen for a reason? Everything?" Stopping at a red light, she looked at Mephistopheles again. "What's your </span>
  <em>
    <span>real </span>
  </em>
  <span>name?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Mephistopheles."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Your parents named you that?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"That's what it says on my ID."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"So are you a Satan-worshipper what?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>This question went directly over Mephistopheles' head, but he had learned he wouldn’t get any answers from Jojo. Instead, he shrugged and gave another smile. "That's classified."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Oh, shit, you </span>
  <em>
    <span>are." </span>
  </em>
  <span>Jojo's eyes widened. "Oh my gosh, did you just escape a cult?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I... don't know what that is," Mephistopheles answered honestly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>To his surprise, Jojo only looked more excited. "I </span>
  <em>
    <span>knew</span>
  </em>
  <span> there was weird shit going down in the desert!"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Sock is gonna say it was aliens," Lil said with confidence.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Lil and Jojo continued to debate whether Mephistopheles was a cult victim or an alien abductee while he sat quietly and tried to work out some sort of plan.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He just had to play the game right until Providence brought him back, that's all there was to it. She </span>
  <em>
    <span>loved</span>
  </em>
  <span> him. She wouldn't just kick him out and leave him. She wouldn't. She </span>
  <em>
    <span>wouldn't</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He wanted so </span>
  <em>
    <span>badly</span>
  </em>
  <span> to talk to her and to feel right in his body again. He was so </span>
  <em>
    <span>small. </span>
  </em>
  <span>It wasn’t right; he wasn’t meant to be like this. The scope of everything he was didn’t </span>
  <em>
    <span>fit</span>
  </em>
  <span> in this human body, and he could feel the edges where things had been cut out to make him fit as keenly as he could feel the gash on the back of his head.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We’re almost there,” Lil said to him suddenly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It took a second for the words to mean something. He was still trying to think in his old celestial language, probing the raw and bleeding edges of his consciousness. When the words finally registered, he wasn’t sure what to say beyond “Okay.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jojo whispered something to Lil, who whispered back. Mephistopheles watched them and slid down a little in his seat. They turned, and he flicked his eyes upward, swallowing thickly when he caught a glimpse of himself in the rearview mirror. It hadn’t occurred to him that he would look different. The mirror was too small to catch all the differences in his face, the myriad wrongness that made his breath catch and stutter painfully in the broken cage of his ribs, but it was the perfect shape to frame the worst of them: Where they had once been spangling gold, smoldering like dying stars, Mephistopheles’ eyes were now a glassy, lifeless blue.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>--</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They pulled into the loading bay of the hospital, and Mephistopheles frowned at the sign. The letters just looked like shapes until they suddenly didn't and the words "Providence Medical Center" stood out, clear as day.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He couldn't work out what "Providence" was supposed to mean or why she should be so important to these humans. As far as Mephistopheles knew, she had never contacted Earth.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"What…" he said, trying to phrase his question in a way that wouldn't arouse further suspicion from Jojo. "What does Providence mean to you?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jojo rolled her eyes. "It's just a fancy word for 'God.'"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The word didn't translate. Mephistopheles decided to push his luck. "God?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Divinity? The Bible?" Jojo looked offended for some reason. "You really were raised in a cult, huh? Are they gonna come after me for helping you?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"We should go," Lil said. "We can only park here for 15 minutes."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Right." Jojo turned in her seat. "Can you walk?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I think so."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Okay, see ya."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Jojo!" Lil said, aghast.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Okay, okay.  Fine." Jojo unbuckled her seatbelt. "We'll walk you in."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mephistopheles didn't say anything. He wasn't sure if he would have preferred to be alone.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Providence had evidently not thought to bestow him with the knowledge of what a hospital was like, because Mephistopheles' mind went blank with lack of comprehension the moment he stepped through the doors.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was crowded and everything smelled of disinfectant and people kept asking him questions he didn't know how to answer.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>After a confusing exchange with a nurse, largely facilitated by Lil, Mephistopheles found himself seated under the flickering light of a television, with Lil and Jojo across from him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Here," Jojo said, lightly tossing a book into his lap. "The Bible. Save your soul, spread the good word. God good, Satan bad."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"And God is Providence?" Mephistopheles asked, trying to remember.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Yep."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Then who's Satan?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jojo gave him a hard-to-read look. "You'll see."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>So Mephistopheles cracked open the Bible and started to read.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He didn't have to wait long before an attendant called his name. He marked his place in the Bible with a ribbon that was sewn into the binding. "Can I hold on to this?" he asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The nurse looked at him with a surprisingly tender expression. "Of course you can."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>After that came more questions, more tests and hands on the cage of his body.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The wide-eyed, soft-spoken concern of the doctors and nurses chafed at him in a way that made it difficult not to curl his lip.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lil and Jojo disappeared around the time that he learned what the word "admitted" meant, and that was how he found himself alone in a hospital bed with a tube in his arm, a cast on his wrist, and the Bible on the bedside table. He flicked through it without much interest, unsure why Jojo had placed such emphasis on it. None of it had ever happened, and it skipped right over the boring period where everything had been single-celled and didn't move much, not to mention the dinosaurs.</span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
</p><p>
  <span>"Am I allowed to get up?" he asked the nurse when she came by to check his vitals.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Yes?" she said. "Why, do you need help?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"No. I don't."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He waited until she left, then rattled across the room with his wheeled IV rack so he could finally examine himself in the bathroom mirror.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The IV slowed him down, and he glared at it when the tape tugged at the delicate skin on the inside of his elbow. He hadn't understood the details of what the doctors had said, but the message was clear: Not only had Providence made him human, she'd stuck him in a </span>
  <em>
    <span>flawed</span>
  </em>
  <span> body.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He tugged the IV pole along and opened the bathroom door with more force than was strictly necessary. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He didn't like what he saw in the mirror. All his light was gone. His hair was stiff with something that made his fringe stick up, because now there was </span>
  <em>
    <span>gravity</span>
  </em>
  <span> to contend with. His pale skin no longer glowed with silvery moonlight and the freckles dotting his cheeks were pale brown, not gold. There was no </span>
  <em>
    <span>fire</span>
  </em>
  <span> to him, no color at all.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Providence had done this to him. The thought made his breath stick in his throat, and he had to look away from his reflection.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He </span>
  <em>
    <span>almost</span>
  </em>
  <span> talked to her, but caught himself just in time. Could she even understand him now? Was she even watching?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>--</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jojo burst into the living room looking for a fight. Lil came in behind her and shut the door.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"We can always try again," she said, continuing the conversation they'd had on the way back from the hospital.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"</span>
  <em>
    <span>When,</span>
  </em>
  <span> though?" Jojo said, trying not to sound too irritated. It wasn't Lil's fault their date got ruined. "We </span>
  <em>
    <span>never</span>
  </em>
  <span> have overlapping days off."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Hi," Sock interjected from the couch. "How was the drive?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Jojo hit a cult escapee with her car," Lil said. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jojo put her keys away and flopped down on the couch as far from Sock as she could get. "Where's Jonathan?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Wait, what?" Sock looked between her and Lil.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jojo rolled her eyes. "Yeah, some lunatic jumped out in front of my car and got all fucked up."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"</span>
  <em>
    <span>How</span>
  </em>
  <span> fucked up?" Sock looked intrigued, the sick bastard. He probably wanted to go lick the blood off the asphalt, if there was any.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Easy, Hannibal," Jojo muttered. "He's fine. We took him to the hospital."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"You hit an alien abductee with your car and just left him at the hospital?" Sock demanded.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Told you so," Lil said. She sat down on the couch between Sock and Jojo.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I wanna talk to him!" Sock writhed like he was about to squirm out of his skin. "What room is he in?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Sock, you can't go harassing random strangers to ask them about aliens."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Not if you don't help me," Sock replied with a wide smile he probably thought was charming. Jojo thought it made him look like a feral animal.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She sneered at him. "Guess you're SOL."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Oh, come on!" Sock turned his gaze to Lil. "I'll buy your hair dye for a month," he said, sing-song.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lil ignored this. "</span>
  <em>
    <span>Where's </span>
  </em>
  <span>Jonathan?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"He's in our room having," Sock made finger quotes "'introvert time'."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Ew," said Jojo.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sock flushed. "Not like that." He turned his head toward the closed door. "Jonathan!"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"No," came the muffled reply.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Jonathan," Sock repeated. He got up and disappeared into the bedroom.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"You know I'm gonna tell him," Lil said."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Yeah, I know." Jojo kissed her temple. "Just make him work for it."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jonathan emerged from the bedroom not a moment later with Sock pressed up to his back, pushing him forward. "Hi, guys. You're back early."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Jojo hit an alien abductee with her car and won't tell me what hospital room he's in!" Sock cried. He pushed Jonathan onto the couch and fell onto his lap.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"A </span>
  <em>
    <span>cult escapee," </span>
  </em>
  <span>Jojo corrected. "He kept saying all this stuff about Providence and whatever."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jonathan looked like he was going to ask a question, even going so far as to open his mouth. Then he shut it again and looked helplessly at Lil.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"It's true," Lil said. "We dropped him off at the hospital."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"What did you </span>
  <em>
    <span>do</span>
  </em>
  <span> to him?" Jonathan asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Oh, nothing, really," Jojo said. "I recommended a psych eval because he seemed a little…" She waved her hand. "Brainwashed." At the silence that followed she added, "And he was dehydrated… And he broke his wrist when he stepped out in front of my car. And his ribs. And he smacked his head on the concrete pretty hard."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"</span>
  <em>
    <span>Damn</span>
  </em>
  <span>, Jojo," Jonathan said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She glared at him. "He stepped in front of my car! And then he started saying all this crazy shit about Providence and Mephistopheles and how he didn't know what 'God's was."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sock was practically vibrating. "It was totally aliens! I bet they abducted this normal guy and scrambled his brain. You have to let me talk to him before the men in black show up!"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Fine, if it gets you out of the apartment," Jojo said. "Providence Hospital, room 208. Knock yourself out, weirdo."</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>It's almost NaNoWriMo and this is not my chosen project, so I won't have a regular update schedule for this. :)</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Content warnings:<br/>Religion - I should have mentioned it earlier, but for the purposes of this fic, every religion is treated as objectively factually incorrect with a particular interest of Christianity (and by implication, Islam and Judaism). Deism is treated as the objective factual truth.<br/>Language - "Queer" is used as an umbrella term</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Hospitals always put a nervous little flutter in Sock's stomach, a rollercoaster thrill that confused him as much as it intrigued him. He tried not to think about, instead focusing on the clack of his bootheels against the linoleum floor.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jonathan held his hand, which was nice, but he didn't say much until they reached the elevator. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"We're really gonna go harass this poor, random man?" he asked, letting go of Sock's hand so he could adjust the flower bouquet he'd insisted on buying from the gift shop.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sock hit the button for the 2nd floor. "It's not harassment, I just want to ask him some questions."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I can't believe I'm dating a truther," Jonathan sighed. "A truther with no social skills."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Admit it, I make your life an adventure." Sock bumped Jonathan with his hip.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Someone should do a study on you," Jonathan said. The elevator doors opened and they stepped out. "I think </span>
  <em>
    <span>you're</span>
  </em>
  <span> an alien."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I'd tell you if I was an alien," Sock said. He reached out for Jonathan's hand and tugged him forward to make him speed up.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Anticipation made Sock's heart thrum in his chest, although he wasn't fully sure why. Contrary to Jojo's belief Sock wasn't stupid, nor was he crazy (if you asked him). He simply kept his mind open to new possibilities.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Including the possibility that the man in room 208 had been abducted by aliens and dumped unceremoniously in the desert.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Last chance to back out," Jonathan whispered, nodding at the half-open door looking before them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sock didn't want to hear it. He pushed the door open with his shoulder and walked right on in. "Hi! Did someone recently hit you with a car?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The man, who was sitting up in bed, was sitting so still he barely seemed to be breathing. He fixed his blue gaze upon Sock with no change in expression whatsoever. "Yes."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jonathan hit Sock in the back with the bouquet and Sock reached to take it from him. "That was our roommate. She told us what happened and we wanted to, uh, come by and bring you these. My name's Sock, by the way."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Mephistopheles," said the man. Sock tried to swallow down his smile. Jojo hadn't been lying. "What do you really want, Sock?" The smile that appeared on Mephistopheles’ face looked painted on.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sock let himself grin in reply. No use beating around the bush, after all. "I want to know what happened! How did you get in the desert? Was it aliens? Do you have a blank spot in your memory?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Slow down, kid." Mephistopheles laughed. In the minute or so that Sock had been talking to him, his demeanor had changed, almost like he was donning a personality the way cops wore bulletproof vests</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sock didn't mind. He was no stranger to lying.  "Sorry."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Here's how this is gonna go." Mephistopheles sat up a little straighter and gestured to the chairs pushed up against the opposite wall. "You're gonna come in and sit down. You too," he said, addressing Jonathan. "I have some questions for you first."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sock exchanged a rapturous look with Jonathan, who just looked nervous. They sat down as they were instructed and looked expectantly at Mephistopheles, who looked as regal as a king in the throne of his hospital bed. The pastel gown he wore may as well have been a robe, the bandages adorning his forehead a crown. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It crossed Sock's mind that maybe he should be nervous like Jonathan was, but curiosity and anticipation burned far brighter in his chest. "Ask away!" he said, gesturing with the flowers still cradled in his arms.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mephistopheles nodded and reached for a book on his bedside table. He held it up, and the embossed gold title caught the light. "Why is this so important?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"The Bible?" Jonathan blurted in a tone of scornful skepticism that made Sock bite his lower lip. "You've never heard of the Bible?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mephistopheles' upper lip twitched, but he didn't say anything, just looked at Jonathan, then at Sock.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"It's, um." Sock tried to think. "A guide. Did you read it?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I skimmed it."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"People worship God. This book is… A religious text, kind of a history of Christianity."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"People think this is </span>
  <em>
    <span>true</span>
  </em>
  <span>?" Mephistopheles looked at the Bible, brow furrowed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jonathan snorted and Sock did his best to ignore him. "You can't really prove it isn't."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"</span>
  <em>
    <span>Okay</span>
  </em>
  <span>," Jonathan said mockingly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mephistopheles smiled incredulously. "People really worship Prov-- God? And so they think… Oh, </span>
  <em>
    <span>man</span>
  </em>
  <span>. How many people believe this?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Well, there are other religions, but Christianity is the big one in the US," Sock said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Yikes." He shook his head. "Next question: what is a cult?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sock had to think about this for a moment before he realized he could just Google it. "One sec." He wiggled his phone out of his pocket. "Ah, well, it's-- No, that's not helpful. It's basically a small religion centered around one person. The leader usually convinces their followers that they have supernatural powers."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"And then usually exploit the cult members for sex or money," Jonathan added. "Jojo thinks you were in a cult. Sock thinks you were abducted by aliens. Which was it?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Jonathan!" Sock squeaked. For all Jonathan teased him about no social skills, he sure was </span>
  <em>
    <span>blunt. </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Mephistopheles' face darkened and he flicked his gaze to the window, where the sun was beginning to get low. "Cult," he said. "I was kicked out. For not carrying enough love in my heart."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Holy shit," Jonathan said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sock couldn't help but be disappointed. "So no aliens?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"No aliens. Sorry, kid."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Do you have anywhere to go?" Sock asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"No."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>For most of his life, Sock had struggled with impulsivity that often got him into trouble. This had been a source of great aggravation to his parents, who made many attempts to break him of the habit. Nothing had been successful and so he navigated life with no filter, taking the consequences as they came. He opened his mouth. "You can stay with us."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Huh?" said Jonathan.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"It's fine!" Sock said. "It'll be fine. It's fine."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Fine," Jonathan said. "But you're explaining it to Jojo and Lil."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Jojo has no room to complain! She's the one who hit him with her car."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Guys." Mephistopheles waved with his good hand. "I'm still here."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Sorry," Jonathan said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sock thought it best to just repeat himself. "You can stay with us."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mephistopheles nodded. "Sure. Fuck it. Why not?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>--</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>At some point, Mephistopheles thought, he really should take stock of what he </span>
  <em>
    <span>did</span>
  </em>
  <span> know and what he didn't. He thought he pretty much had hospitals figured out until it came time to leave and a bunch of doctors tried to talk him out of it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sock and Jonathan were no help at all in that endeavor and Mephistopheles was more than a little annoyed with them when he finally made it out to the parking lot.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>As a final indignity, the doctors had tried to make him leave in a wheelchair despite the fact that he could walk perfectly fine and it was only the application of a few well-placed sneers and a great deal of stubbornness that got him out of it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"So you were in a cult?" Sock asked once they were in the car.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Sure," Mephistopheles said. The lie had fallen into place the moment Sock had explained what a cult was. "Or you could say I was in love. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Am</span>
  </em>
  <span> in love." He was giving too much away, but the words clawed at his chest and seemed to </span>
  <em>
    <span>demand</span>
  </em>
  <span> he speak them. "Look, I don't want to talk about this."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Awww." Sock crossed his arms over his chest. "Well, what else is there to talk about?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"You could tell me about </span>
  <em>
    <span>you</span>
  </em>
  <span>." Not that Mephistopheles gave a single shit about Sock or his boytoy, but at least listening to him talk would pass the time and fill in some of the holes in Mephistopheles' knowledge of Earth. The frustrating incompleteness of what Providence had put in his head served as further evidence in the case he was building against her. She clearly didn't understand the human world, so how could she expect him to? It wasn't </span>
  <em>
    <span>fair.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>"Okay," Sock said. "Umm. Where should I start?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Tell me how you ended up living with Jojo? </span>
  <em>
    <span>She's</span>
  </em>
  <span> a charmer."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Oh." Sock laughed humorlessly. "That's a funny story, actually. We grew up together and she </span>
  <em>
    <span>hates</span>
  </em>
  <span> me. For, um, reasons. Anyway, we didn't keep track of each other after graduating high school. It was total coincidence that we ever crossed paths again. She and her girlfriend Lil were looking for roommates after graduating, and Jonathan answered her Craigslist ad."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Haha " Mephistopheles said drily. Sock turned around and looked at him, confused, and he elaborated, "You said it was a funny story."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Oh." Sock didn't laugh, but Jonathan gave a snicker and glanced approvingly at Mephistopheles in the rear view mirror.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The car slowed and they turned in to a vast parking lot. "You ever been to Walmart?" Jonathan asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mephistopheles glanced at the massive building, then back at Jonathan. "Nnno?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Brace yourself."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Walmart turned out to be a store, something with which Mephistopheles found he was familiar. It was crowded and loud and all too easy to lose sight of Jonathan and Sock in the mass of people. They were quite a bit shorter than he was and moved quickly. He found it easiest to keep his gaze fixed on Sock's brightly colored hat. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He was pleased to find that he knew what a store was for and why they were buying what they were buying.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was only in the clothing department where they started to hit snags.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I don't… want these," Mephistopheles said, gesturing broadly at </span>
  <em>
    <span>literally everything </span>
  </em>
  <span>around him. The racks of cheap T-shirts printed with images of cartoon characters and ugly cargo shorts made his skin crawl.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I didn't think you'd have a chance to develop a sense of personal style living in a </span>
  <em>
    <span>cult</span>
  </em>
  <span>," Jonathan mumbled, "but what the fuck do I know?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"They have dress shirts over here," Sock called, gesturing them over to a display of folded shirts wrapped in plastic.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mephistopheles fiddled with the plastic hospital bracelet still wrapped around his good wrist. Under the cast, his other wrist throbbed, and the overhead lights seemed </span>
  <em>
    <span>too bright</span>
  </em>
  <span> compared to the gentle glow of the space he occupied with Providence.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I don't know what size I am," he said flatly. Whenever the anger and fear started to flare up, whenever the pain got too bad, he found he went numb like this.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Let's go with medium." Jonathan threw a few white shirts into the cart, where they landed with a plasticky crunch.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"What's your favorite color?" Sock asked, popping up by Mephistopheles' elbow.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He couldn't remember. It was one of the things he'd lost in the transition to human form, cut out of his mind and left for the bare spot to rub itself raw against the boundary of his limited brain-space.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I'm colorblind."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Really?" Sock looked startled, perhaps at the thought that Mephistopheles couldn't perceive his gaudy rainbow outfit in all its glory.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"No."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jonathan muffled a laugh behind his fist and emerged stony-faced. "Alright, let's move it along. I want to see Jojo murder Sock."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"You don't </span>
  <em>
    <span>have</span>
  </em>
  <span> to take me in," Mephistopheles said. And they didn't; nobody was making them. He certainly didn't care.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jonathan's cheeks tinged pink. "No, no, I didn't mean-- We're happy to do it."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Underdogs have to help each other out," Sock chimed in, and tossed a pastel green dress shirt into the cart.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Underdogs?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Oh, you know." Sock dragged the cart over to a display of black dress pants. "We're an apartment full of a broke queers with bad parents--"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Not me," Jonathan interjected.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"With </span>
  <em>
    <span>mostly</span>
  </em>
  <span> bad parents," Sock amended. "We all know a thing or two about needing support. What's your pants size?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I don't know." Mephistopheles tilted his head at Sock. The kid came across as a total goofball, but maybe there was more to him than gaudy accessories and limited social skills.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>At checkout, Sock surprised him again by reaching for his wallet with the practiced hand of a cowboy on the draw.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I got it," Mephistopheles said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Won't they have cancelled your card?" Jonathan asked </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mephistopheles almost had to ask who 'they' was before he remembered his cult story. "It's fine," he said after failing to come up with a plausible explanation for </span>
  <em>
    <span>why</span>
  </em>
  <span> it was fine.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The card went through and so began the long process of navigating the parking lot without getting hit by a car for the second time that day.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The drive to the apartment was uneventful. Mephistopheles spent most of it staring out the window trying to get the lay of the land. Looking at the rocky landscaping and the bigger formations in the distance made him dizzy. He had seen this forming, watched the progression of the weather and tectonic shifts. He didn't </span>
  <em>
    <span>remembe</span>
  </em>
  <span>r it now, but he knew that he knew, and the discrepancy made his head spin.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It occurred to him that Providence had put him here on purpose. She wanted him to understand, after all. She wouldn't want him wandering around in the wilderness alone, she would want him to talk to humans.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"So…" Mephistopheles said, trying to sound like he really cared, "how did you two meet?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>To his surprise, it was Jonathan who answered. "We lived on the same floor of the dorms as Freshmen. My roommate, umm… Let’s just say I spent a lot of nights sitting in the hallway. Sock kept finding me asleep in the doorway and he finally started inviting me over."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"You didn't complain to the RA?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I'm not a snitch." Jonathan rolled his eyes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Uh-huh." Mephistopheles had no idea where to go from here, but thankfully it was only silent for a moment before they pulled into an apartment complex.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Welcome home!" Sock said brightly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mephistopheles tried not to shudder.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>This is my first time ever posting chapter updates as i write them (instead of finishing the work and then posting 1x a week or whatever) and boy I really hate it! I'm not going to stop but like. How did this become the norm it's awful</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I was going to try to make this chapter longer but then I thought "fuck it!" and that was the whole thought, and this is the chapter</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Jonathan was not in the habit of questioning other people's decisions for longer than it took to sneer at them, but as he mounted the steps to his apartment, he couldn't help but feel that he and Sock had made a mistake.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jonathan had always tried to be a good roommate, washing his own dishes and keeping out of the way when possible. Bringing home a strange man from the hospital was </span>
  <em>
    <span>not</span>
  </em>
  <span> something a good roommate did. But Sock had sent him ahead to act as liaison, since Jojo tolerated him, so he steeled himself and opened the door.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lil and Jojo had set up shop in the living room. They were watching a movie on the couch, and Jonathan could tell from the artificial stiffness of their postures that they had heard him come in and scooted away from each other.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Leaving room for Jesus?" Jonathan asked, shutting the door behind him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jojo paused the movie and looked up at him with an expression that told him she wouldn't tolerate much more teasing. "Where's Sock? Did you drop him off at the Humane Society?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"About that," Jonathan said, shifting his weight. "We may have adopted…"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"A possum?" Lil asked hopefully.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Mephistopheles."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"What," Jojo said, flat and deadly.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You </span>
  <em>
    <span>did</span>
  </em>
  <span> hit him with your car," Jonathan said.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Explain to me the logic," Jojo said. She always did have X-ray vision for bullshit. "Some guy jumps out in front of my car, so he gets to move in with us?" Her eyes narrowed suddenly and she jumped to her feet. "This was Sock's idea, wasn't it? He sent you in to break the news because he was too chicken to face me himself."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"WWJD?" Jonathan said weakly.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jojo flipped on the lightswitch and rounded on Jonathan. "Excuse me."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jonathan stepped out of her way so she could get to the door. "Are you going to kick him out? He doesn't have anywhere to go?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Sock or Mephistopheles?" Jojo asked. She opened the door and disappeared, slamming it behind her.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Oh, boy," Lil said. She shut the laptop and stood up. "Come on, let's go defuse a bomb."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jonathan followed her to the car, surprised that he didn't hear any yelling. In fact, the scene was surprisingly peaceful, all things considered.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sock was smiling sheepishly and taking Walmart bags out of the trunk while Jojo slid them onto her arms so she could carry them inside. Mephistopheles stood and watched with all the stern serenity of a lion overseeing the savanna. He had his hands clasped at the waist, his right hand wrapped around the bulky cast on his left wrist.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Why don't you go inside?" Jojo asked him, ignoring Jonathan and Lil as they approached. "We won't be long."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jonathan paused and watched. Mephistopheles looked between Sock and Jojo, glanced at Jonathan and Lil, then at the door. "If you're going to ask me to leave, I'd rather you did it now."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I won't," Jojo said. "You're welcome here."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"He's not a vampire," Sock blurted.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>A smile curled spread Mephistopheles' mouth like an oil spill. "As far as you know." Then he turned and made for the house.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"He's really weird," Jojo sighed as soon as Mephistopheles was out of earshot.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jonathan hurried forward to help her with the bags. "Thank you for not killing my boyfriend."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Oh, he's not off the hook," Jojo said. "He's doing all the dishes for a month."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I am? " said Sock. "I mean, of course I am!"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"And paying for the damages if we get </span>
  <em>
    <span>robbed</span>
  </em>
  <span>."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I don't know how much my opinion is worth," Jonathan interjected.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Not much, if you're giving it away for free," Jojo said under her breath.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"But I like him," Jonathan continued, diplomatically ignoring the remark.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sock caught his eye and mouthed </span>
  <em>
    <span>thank you</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jojo shut the trunk of the car with her free hand and looked at Lil. "What do you think, babe? Any protests?" </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She shook her head. "I just hope if he kills us in our sleep, he makes it quick."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"That's the spirit." Jonathan locked his car and they all headed inside.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>--</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He would leave. If anyone tested or tried him in any way, Mephistopheles would get up and leave.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He took a deep breath (breathing was weird), wincing at the ache in his ribs. Above the quiet of the apartment rose the low hum of his body putting itself back together. He listened to the symphony of cells inside him while looking around the apartment. It was cluttered but not messy, though the lopsided tilt of the IKEA furniture gave the whole place a kind of seasick feeling. The couch, at least, was solid, taking his weight without even a creak of protest.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He wondered if Providence comprehended what a cruel thing she had done in stranding him here. But then it occurred to him, he had been wrong, too. His memories with Providence were too big to fit inside his human brain, so they were scaled down and distorted, but he remembered thinking he had been lonely when she lavished Earth with her attention instead of him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He had been wrong. That wasn't loneliness. He could still see her, touch her if he wanted to. </span>
  <em>
    <span>This</span>
  </em>
  <span> was loneliness. Stranded on a planet in a different dimension (his head ached) away from her, his </span>
  <em>
    <span>everything, </span>
  </em>
  <span>his home…</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Voices, footfalls.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"--tons of spare blankets," came Sock's high, piping voice. "I'll take care of it."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He appeared suddenly in the doorway and the others spilled in behind him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Hiya," said Sock. "You're cool with couch surfing, right?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Sure," Mephistopheles said. Right, propriety. "Thanks, kid."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Don't mention it," Sock said airily.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Everyone piled over to the couch and dumped the Walmart bags unceremoniously at Mephistopheles' feet.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You're fine, right?" Jonathan asked. "Like, they didn't give you any pills or whatever at the hospital?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Nope," said Mephistopheles. "Everything is healing up just fine." He knew it intrinsically: his fractured ribs were knitting back together, his head wound had already started to scab over, the tendons in his wrist were repairing themselves.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"How do you know?" Jojo demanded.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Thanks, Providence. "Well--"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Ease off, Jojo," Jonathan said.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You're the first real human beings I've met; sorry if my social skills are a little lacking," Mephistopheles shot back.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jojo looked at him, surprised. "Oh, you </span>
  <em>
    <span>do</span>
  </em>
  <span> have a personality."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mephistopheles shrugged. "It came free with the cast."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Hey," Lil said suddenly. She looked up from her phone, noticed everyone staring at her, and blushed. "My work schedule got rearranged. I have tomorrow off."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"That makes all of us, doesn't it?" Jonathan asked. He turned to Mephistopheles, the corners of his mouth upturned slightly. "Have you ever had alcohol?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mephistopheles waited patiently for the appropriate neurons to fire and tried to strategize.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Before he could speak, Lil cut in with a nervous lilt to her voice, "Are you sure that's a good idea?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"He just said he was fine." Jonathan flashed his gray eyes at Mephistopheles. "You're fine?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"He's dehydrated," Jojo said with a funny curve to her mouth. "They said at the hospital."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I got IV fluids," Mephistopheles said, trying to decide if he should smile or glare. He compromised by baring his teeth. "Why are you all looking at me like I'm a science experiment?" Nobody answered. Mephistopheles forced his grin into a smirk instead. Predator, not prey. So Providence wanted him to bond with humans? "Fuck it, let's get hammered."</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>God I need coffee</p>
<p>Anyway you know the drill, point out typos, don't point out factual errors because they were 100% on purpose because I know Everything, find me on Tumblr as OurLordApollo, eat ass, suck a dick, and sell drugs</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I swear writing the notes is harder than writing the chapters!!!</p><p>I'm paranoid abt getting yelled at by strangers so let me emphasize once again that this fic treats all Big 3 Abrahamic religions as patently false so please don't read it if that's likely to offend you or even make you uncomfortable. I swear I'm not doing it for shock value, I'm just trying to tell a story OTL<br/>(Nobody has gotten mad at me yet and I'd like to keep it that way haha)</p><p>Content Warnings:<br/>-Oblique mentions of religious homophobia<br/>-A brief acknowledgement that it might be dangerous for a woman to be alone with a strange man (in a "I, the author, have trauma" kind of way, not in a TERFy way)</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Lil freed her hands from Jojo's grip and leaned forward to snatched her drink off the coffee table before Sock could steal it. She downed it in one swallow and passed the empty cup to Sock, who made a face at her. "Refill?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Me too," Jonathan said quickly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Why don't I just bring the bottle out?" Sock asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was an argument they'd had many times, which Jojo always won because she was a firecracker and Sock was just a sparkler. Lil giggled.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jojo straightened up. "Because," she said. "You'll go </span>
  <em>
    <span>way </span>
  </em>
  <span>too fast and end up throwing up off the balcony again."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"That was </span>
  <em>
    <span>one time</span>
  </em>
  <span>," Sock grumbled, but he held out his hand for Jonathan's empty cup and marched off to the kitchen just the same.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Across from Lil, the stranger (Mephistopheles, she reminded herself) laughed quietly. Despite the fact that Sock had been pouring doubles all night, Mephistopheles was still sitting up straight. But he smiled and laughed more freely now, and had lost the haunted expression that he wore when he thought no one was looking.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Despite the strange situation, Lil found herself liking Mephistopheles (though she had to fight the urge to refer to him as "the guy"). He was quiet like she was and he seemed to notice things the same way she did. Oops, like right now, he was noticing Lil staring at him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He squinted slightly: a subtle look of amusement; the corners of his mouth twitched upwards. "Do I have something on my face?" he asked, touching the bandages that encircled his forehead.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lil's cheeks heated up. "I was just spacing out." She looked away and noticed Jojo glancing between the two of them. Lil nudged her to let her know everything was okay.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jojo, being Jojo, refused to take the hint. "Sooo," she said lazily, tapering. In the kitchen, something clattered to the floor and Sock cursed. Jonathan mumbled something and got up. Unperturbed, Jojo continued, "You promise you're not going to rob and/or murder us and run off into the night?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mephistopheles, as was his habit, waited just a fraction of a second too long before responding. "I'm still thinking it over. Got any gold jewelry I can pawn?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Yeah, right." Jojo scoffed. "Maybe you can sell Sock's knife collection."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Whoa, whoa." Mephistopheles put up his hands. "I'd have to be completely stupid to try to rob somebody who has a </span>
  <em>
    <span>knife collection</span>
  </em>
  <span>."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"You were stupid enough to step out in front of a moving car."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"</span>
  <em>
    <span>Jojo</span>
  </em>
  <span>!" Lil hissed, but Mephistopheles didn't seem to mind.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He adjusted the cast on his wrist like he didn't have a care in the world and said with dignity, "I tripped."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"By the way, </span>
  <em>
    <span>Joane</span>
  </em>
  <span>," Lil cut in. "Is there anything you wanted to say about that?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Color flared into Jojo's cheeks. "No, I don't think there is."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>At odds with his slow responses (which Lil chalked up to the head injury), Mephistopheles seemed to cotton on to Lil's meaning straight away. A wicked grin unfurled across his face and he stared Jojo down with his cold blue eyes, still picking at his cast with his uninjured hand. "Nothing?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Fine!" Jojo huffed. "I'm </span>
  <em>
    <span>sorry</span>
  </em>
  <span> that you had the bad luck to trip and it happened to be </span>
  <em>
    <span>my </span>
  </em>
  <span>car that plowed into you. You dented my bumper, you know."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Well, then." Mephistopheles looked like he was trying not to laugh. "I'm sorry I dented your bumper when you hit me with your car."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"So we're square?" Jojo asked cautiously.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Well, you'll be hearing from my team of lawyers, but other than that…"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Oh, shut up." Jojo fished an ice cube out of her drink and flicked it at Mephistopheles.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lil couldn't help but wince at this display of over-familiarity, but Mephistopheles really didn't seem to mind.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"How long does it take to make a drink, anyway?" she asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jojo caught her eye and smiled. "Oh, I think I know what </span>
  <em>
    <span>they're</span>
  </em>
  <span> doing," she said in a low voice. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mephistopheles leaned in. "Do tell."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Come on." Jojo stood.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lil followed Jojo and felt Mephistopheles fall into step a little behind her. They rounded the corner to the kitchen and Lil was unsurprised to find Sock and Jonathan making out against the stove top. Sock had his hand planted squarely on one of the burners and Lil stared at it, thankful that they weren't cooking anything.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"That's a quarter each for the PDA jar!" Jojo shouted, sadistic glee evident in her voice.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jonathan scrambled backwards, hands already flying to his pockets. "Oh my god."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Jeeze, Jojo." Sock scrubbed at his face with his hands. "Don't </span>
  <em>
    <span>do</span>
  </em>
  <span> that!"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The secondhand embarrassment getting a little too much for her, Lil turned to walk away. She happened to catch Mephistopheles' eye as she did so and found him looking almost as mortified as Jonathan did. They walked back to the living room, leaving the friendly shouting match behind them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"You guys are crazy," Mephistopheles said, stealing what was left of Jojo's tequila sunrise.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lil shrugged. "You get used to it."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"</span>
  <em>
    <span>Jojo</span>
  </em>
  <span>'</span>
  <em>
    <span>s</span>
  </em>
  <span> crazy," Mephistopheles amended, looking at Lil sideways.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She realized with a jolt that he was trying to get a rise out of her-- he was </span>
  <em>
    <span>teasing </span>
  </em>
  <span>her. "She keeps my life interesting, that's for sure." Then something occurred to Lil, a thought that made her blood run cold. "You're not-- It doesn't-- I mean I don't want to assume anything, but…" She trailed off, hoping that Mephistopheles would put the pieces together.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>His colorless irises moved almost imperceptibly, creases appearing between his eyebrows. "What?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Me and Jojo… Sock and Jonathan…" </span>
  <em>
    <span>Why</span>
  </em>
  <span> couldn't she just spit it out? "We're… You know. Queer."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Again, Mephistopheles paused and thought. "Is that bad?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I mean, no. Well. Some people think it is."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Why?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lil nodded at the Bible nestled among Mephistopheles' possessions. "Oh, you know. Some people think it's an affront to God."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Why would she care?" Mephistopheles said, then pressed his lips together as though to prevent himself from speaking further.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"She?" Lil repeated, thoroughly confused.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Never mind," Mephistopheles said quickly. "Should we go check on the others?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Let's do that." Whatever Jojo, Sock, and Jonathan were up to, they were at least laughing, which was a good sign.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lil found them in the kitchen coating the rims of their mismatched wine glasses with sugar and trying to decorate the edges with grenadine. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"It takes three people to make a cocktail?" Mephistopheles asked, leaning against the doorway.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"We're trying to make them </span>
  <em>
    <span>fancy," </span>
  </em>
  <span>Jonathan slurred. He had evidently gotten into the tequila, probably to ease his embarrassment at having been caught canoodling with Sock.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Well, it looks like you're making a mess," Lil said, eyeing the bright pink pools of grenadine on the countertop. "Alright, everyone out. Jonathan and I can make our own drinks." She waited for everyone to filter out of the kitchen, sighed, and grabbed a few paper towels to try to mop up the spilled grenadine.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"So," Jonathan said in a low voice. "What's your read on you-know-who?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I like him," she said, leaning over so she could wet the paper towels in the sink.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jonathan measured out a shot of tequila and poured it carefully into Lil's cup. "Really?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Is that hard to believe?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jonathan shrugged. "You're usually a pretty good judge of character. It's just, y'know, statistically speaking, the guy's a serial killer."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"The bedroom doors all lock." Lil tossed the paper towels aside and watched Jonathan try and fail not to spill more grenadine on the counter. "I'm really not getting a bad vibe off him, though."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Cool, so I can blame you when I wake up and all our stuff is gone."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Or you could blame Sock."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>From the living room, laughter swelled accompanied by the sound of metal striking glass. Jonathan shot a glance at Lil and handed over her cup. "Let's go check that out."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Before they break something." Lil took a sip of her drink and stumbled back to the living room.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She declined to join the game of quarters they'd started up, instead opting to sit back and watch as her friends flung change around the living room and splashed alcohol on the rug.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Again, her gaze strayed to Mephistopheles. He didn't seem dangerous. And was it so hard to see the good in a stranger? He was only here because Jojo had done </span>
  <em>
    <span>him</span>
  </em>
  <span> harm, and he hadn't acted resentful for even a moment.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chance encounters were funny, Lil thought, sitting back and feeling the world spin around her. Maybe this was the start of something. And maybe that something would be good.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"You're smiling," Jojo whispered, pressing her forehead into Lil's jaw. Her breath tickled the bare skin of Lil's neck and made her shiver.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Yeah." Lil would have gone on, but she was interrupted by a joyful whoop from Sock.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"That's a quarter in the PDA jar!"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jojo looked up and flipped him off. "Bitch, I'll put </span>
  <em>
    <span>you</span>
  </em>
  <span> in the PDA jar."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Okay," Jonathan said hurriedly, making a swipe for the remaining coins scattered all over the coffee table. "I think it's time for bed."</span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
</p><p>
  <span>Lil got Jojo into bed and tiptoed back to the living room. The edges of the words were still fuzzy and rolling, and some more lucid part of her knew she wasn't being as quiet as she thought she was, but she </span>
  <em>
    <span>hated </span>
  </em>
  <span>leaving a mess. And the others would feel a little better in the morning if they didn't have to deal with sticky pools of tequila and pennies all over the coffee table, empty glasses on the floor.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She came out of the hallway, squinting in the shadows, and jumped when she realized that Mephistopheles was awake and staring at her over the top of his Bible.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I'm just cleaning up," she whispered, gesturing at the mess of the coffee table.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He stared at her, then at the coffee table. "Let me give you a hand with that." Before she could protest, he had set the Bible aside and was gathering dirty glasses into his arms. Lil scooped up the change and followed him into the kitchen.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"So," he said, carefully depositing the cups into the sink. "You're the smart one."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It wasn't a question. Lil blushed and turned a penny over with her thumb. "I… Um."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"It's okay, you can own it. I won't tell the others."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I guess so?" Lil had never thought of herself as 'the smart one' before. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mephistopheles did not elaborate. He turned on the faucet and reached for the dish soap. "Where in the Bible does it say that same-sex relationships are bad? And wh--" He cut himself off and looked expectantly at her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Oh." Lil tried to think. Jojo would know this. "Um, nowhere? Technically? I think? There's a part about men not sleeping with boys, maybe…" She shook her head. "It's more about, uh, culture and subtext I think."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Hold on. So people are basing whole cultures and value systems based off what they </span>
  <em>
    <span>suspect</span>
  </em>
  <span> that Pr-- God would want for them?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Yyyes," Lil said slowly. "I would have thought that since you were in a cult and all, you'd kind of know."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Wasn't that kind of cult," Mephistopheles said much too quickly. "It was a different kind."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Uh-huh." Lil frowned. Maybe it was overstepping to doubt what Mephistopheles had said, but… </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Wait, wait. Isn't, uh, God's whole thing supposed to be love?" Mephistopheles asked in a surprisingly bitter tone. He looked </span>
  <em>
    <span>angry</span>
  </em>
  <span>, but his motions remained tight and controlled as he used his thumb to rub a spot of grenadine off the stem of a wine glass. "It seems to be sort of a recurring theme in your little handbook."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I'm really not sure I'm qualified to explain the history of the Big Three Abrahamic religions," Lil said, suddenly acutely aware that she was alone with a strange man. She shuffled backwards as subtly as she could.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"</span>
  <em>
    <span>Three</span>
  </em>
  <span>? So basically people are just making shit up?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I wouldn't say </span>
  <em>
    <span>that</span>
  </em>
  <span>," Lil said uneasily, thinking of Jojo.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Just give me the gist, then. Explain it like I'm 5."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Uhhh…" Lil tried to think back to her Sunday school lessons and came up mostly empty. She borrowed one of Jojo's standards instead: "God good, Satan bad?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Okay, explain it like I'm 12."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Be good and God will reward you with a place in Heaven, be bad and Satan will punish you with a place in Hell?" Lil ventured.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"There's </span>
  <em>
    <span>punishment</span>
  </em>
  <span> involved?" Mephistopheles turned off the water and tilted his head at Lil, his eyes catching the overhead light from the stove.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I'm really not qualified to explain all this," Lil said. "You should ask Jojo."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"No, I shouldn't."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lil chuckled. "No, you shouldn't. You should ask a…" She paused, trying to land on a religious figure to recommend. "A professor of theology."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Ugh, I think I'll stick to the Bible."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"That works too." Lil paused. "Why are you so interested in all this, anyway?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mephistopheles shrugged. "What can I say, I'm a scholar at heart," he said, deadpan. "Are you gonna hold on to those coins all night long?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"What? Oh." Lil looked down at the sticky mess in her hands. "No." She dumped them into a bowl to deal with later and stepped forward to rinse the tequila residue off her hands.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>When she turned back around, she found Mephistopheles leaning against the countertop, staring at the floor. "It is kind of a nice thought, though, isn't it?" he said, not looking up.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"What is?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Unconditional love." He scoffed, and one corner of his mouth turned up in a crooked, joyless smile. "Guaranteed forgiveness."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Did you hurt someone?" Lil asked, and then felt foolish. If the cult story was true, Mephistopheles had just left behind his entire life, everything and everyone he had ever known. Of course he felt like he'd hurt people.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He seemed to catch himself, and smiled at Lil. "Oh, no, no, I was just thinking about Jojo's car. Think she'll ever forgive me for denting the bumper?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lil allowed him to change the subject. "Sorry, but you're out of luck. She's the queen of holding grudges."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Yeah," Mephistopheles said, "that's kinda what I figured."</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Thanks for reading!</p><p>As always, this was written and posted via my phone. Feel free to point out any typos or formatting errors I missed. You can also point out continuity errors but rest assured I will be mortified 😇</p><p>Find me on Tumblr as OurLordApollo</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter 5</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I overdosed on angst when I was a teenager and now I have a hard time writing it 🙈 Hopefully I pulled it off well enough for this chapter<br/>Not that it matters, but I did research New Mexico for this fic before making the executive decision to just make everything up because NM is boring as hell. If you live there: my condolences<br/>(I'm teasing)</p>
<p>Content Warnings: Just the usual dismissiveness of Abrahamic religions</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Sleep was an odd thing. Mephistopheles lay on his back with his eyes closed, following instinct, and waited.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And waited.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And waited.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It was difficult trying to guide his thoughts around the tender spots in his mind, half-forgotten memories that he simply couldn't process any more, and of course that omnipresent feeling of betrayal and violation.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The alcohol didn't help matters. The floating, spinning sensation was awfully reminiscent of falling from the cosmos and thinking about </span>
  <em>
    <span>that</span>
  </em>
  <span> sent him reeling back into trying to remember things he couldn't.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And then, of course, there was the matter of waking up.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Someone was in the kitchen doing an absolutely </span>
  <em>
    <span>awful</span>
  </em>
  <span> job keeping quiet. Two someones, if the muttered conversation was anything to go by.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Fuck!" The sound of a cabinet door slamming.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Shh."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Don't you shush me, Combs."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Well, try not to cause a bakeware avalanche, then."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mephistopheles slunk off to the bathroom to brush his teeth and change.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He tried not to look at himself in the mirror, but it was unavoidable. He at least had to make sure he looked-- Not </span>
  <em>
    <span>good, </span>
  </em>
  <span>but put together, on some level. Not that he would turn any heads in a pastel button down and oversized slacks.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He was still fiddling with the belt when he rounded the corner to the kitchen to see what Jonathan and Jojo were up to.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They stared at him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He stared back.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You look like an Easter egg," Jojo said finally, brandishing a spatula at him. She turned to Jonathan and repeated, "He looks like an Easter egg."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Sock picked out the shirts," Jonathan said, shrugging.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mephistopheles adjusted his belt buckle. "I </span>
  <em>
    <span>look</span>
  </em>
  <span> like a leprechaun with depression."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jonathan turned his face away, shoulders shaking with suppressed laughter.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"We're making pancakes," Jojo said. "We don't usually all eat together, but… Y'know, hospitality."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"She's gonna make you do the dishes," Jonathan said in an exaggerated whisper.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jojo elbowed him. "I was going to </span>
  <em>
    <span>hint</span>
  </em>
  <span>."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Ah," said Mephistopheles. "Well. I guess I'll…" Why was everything so much harder as a human? Even </span>
  <em>
    <span>thinking</span>
  </em>
  <span> was difficult.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"</span>
  <em>
    <span>You'll</span>
  </em>
  <span> sit right back down on the couch, and Jonathan will bring you coffee and my teen study Bible."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I will?" Jonathan said. Upon seeing Jojo's expression, he abruptly changed his tune. "I will."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Go on," Jojo said.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jonathan made a dive for the coffee maker. Mephistopheles turned on his heel and went right back to the couch. He busied himself trying to fold the blankets one-handed, then gave up and swept everything into the plastic storage bin Jonathan had picked out to hold his possessions. It was an ugly translucent white, with teal handles and matching teal lid. But it got the job done. In the end, aesthetics didn't </span>
  <em>
    <span>really</span>
  </em>
  <span> matter except as a tool for self-projection (he tugged distractedly at the pale green fabric of his shirt).</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Coffee," Jonathan said.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mephistopheles tried and failed not to jump, wincing at the renewed ache in his ribs. "That was fast."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"It was already brewing," Jonathan said. He shuffled his feet and looked around. "Did you actually want Jojo's teen Bible?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mephistopheles shrugged. "Sure, I guess. Why not?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I can think of a few reasons."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Ooh, cryptic."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jonathan fetched the Bible off a nearby bookshelf and set it down on the coffee table. "You're not really buying into this, are you?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"No." Mephistopheles almost laughed. "No, no, no. Call it a morbid fascination."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Thank God," Jonathan said, and Mephistopheles frowned. Jonathan looked at him. "What?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You just said--"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Oh, it's a figure of speech. It's pretty common."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"The more I learn about you people, the less I understand," Mephistopheles said. Then, in case Providence was watching, he added, "It's very interesting." Great, nice save.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You'll pick it up," Jonathan said.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>For just a flash, Mephistopheles felt like himself again. Jonathan looked so young, so </span>
  <em>
    <span>fleeting</span>
  </em>
  <span>. "You're a good kid."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>What a joke this all was. Providence might as well have sent him down to bond with the cyanobacteria that preceded the dinosaurs for all the difference it would have made. He forced himself to take a drink of the coffee Jonathan had brought him, more to hide the sneer that crossed his face than anything.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Thanks," Jonathan said with a wry smile. "You're a good adult."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Cute."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jonathan sat down on the couch, leaving a healthy amount of distance between their two bodies. "So do you have any hobbies?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mephistopheles tried to think of something to say. He didn't. All he ever did was spend time with Providence, and that was all he had ever </span>
  <em>
    <span>wanted</span>
  </em>
  <span> to do. "Is there a right answer?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>If that was a strange thing to say, Jonathan didn't show it. "Nah. I was just thinking we should probably find something for you to do since you're probably gonna be confined to the apartment for a couple days."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"What?" Mephistopheles tried to push past the spike of panic that flared in his chest. How was he supposed to understand the human world if he was trapped inside the apartment? That had been his whole reason for leaving the hospital, not wanting to be trapped. The sooner he jumped through the hoops Providence had set up for him, the sooner he got to go home.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You have a non-zero number of broken bones. That number is supposed to be zero."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Yeah, but--" Control, control. "You busted me out of the hospital AMA yesterday and you think a few broken bones are gonna slow me down?" He scoffed and studied the nails of his good hand.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jonathan recoiled and blinked. "I mean, you don't have to if you don't want to. I just-- I kinda thought you would want to. Aren't you in pain?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He was, but Mephistopheles could stand a little pain if it meant going back to his old life. "It's not bothering me."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Okay. Um. I guess I'll talk to others."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Before either one of them could say anything further, Sock bounded into the living room. "Jojo's cooking?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Yeah, and Hell froze over," Jonathan said.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sock sat down next to Jonathan, so close their bodies were touching. Mephistopheles observed this with a rising pain in his chest. He tried to picture Providence, the way they used to hold each other, and couldn't. The memories were washed out and far away. Panic clawed at him and he tried not to make a face.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It was laughable, though, how these humans thought they knew love. When the scope of all the love Mephistopheles held for Providence wouldn't even fit inside his mortal frame, Jonathan and Sock sat there in their blissful ignorance. Maybe, for all her fawning and observing, it was </span>
  <em>
    <span>Providence</span>
  </em>
  <span> who didn't understand humans.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He banished the thought.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"--today?" Sock was saying. He looked expectantly at Mephistopheles.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I wasn't listening."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I said, 'is there anything you want to do today?' Jonathan said you didn't want to do the whole 'bed rest and Bible study' thing."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"What </span>
  <em>
    <span>is</span>
  </em>
  <span> there to do?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Oh, lots!" Sock said cheerfully, just as Jonathan muttered, "Uh, get high under an overpass?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sock ignored this and continued, "Roswell, Carlsbad, hiking, the zoo, museums, driving--"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Slow down," Jonathan said, unable to entirely hide the fond smile on his lips.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"What are you guys talking about in there?" Jojo shouted from the kitchen.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Turning you in for a hit and run," Jonathan shouted back.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Very funny." Jojo leaned around the corner, spatula in hand. "Just for that, you're getting the burned pancakes."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sock jumped to her feet. "Make one that looks like a UFO!" He scrambled into the kitchen after Jojo and soon the sound of bickering was all that remained of the pair of them.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"So," said Jonathan.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Hm?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"What do you want to do today?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I…" said Mephistopheles, trying to choose his words carefully, "want to learn more about hu-- people. Uh, society." Smooth.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Probably an art museum, then," Jonathan said. "Sock won't be happy."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I can go alone."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"No way!" Jonathan looked almost affronted at the thought. "We're your friends now, and friends don't let friends wander around alone in a city they've never been to before. Especially with broken bones."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Friends?" Mephistopheles repeated, trying not to sound too skeptical.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He evidently failed, because Jonathan froze, and red began to seep into his cheeks. "Well, I mean-- I just--"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I've never had friends before," Mephistopheles said to smooth over the awkwardness. Then he thought about it and realized it was true. Providence wasn't his friend, she was his </span>
  <em>
    <span>everything</span>
  </em>
  <span>. It occurred to him then, that cyanobacteria probably couldn't make friends.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"What?" Jonathan said.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"What?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You're laughing."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I'm just glad I'm not a eukaryote, that's all."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jonathan tilted his head like he wanted to say something. Then he bit his bottom lip, released it, and stood. "I should probably let the others know." </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"By all means."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jonathan left and Mephistopheles watched him go, somehow fascinated and repulsed at the same time.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He tried to think about what would happen if Providence left him here forever to live out whatever lifespan he'd been granted. The thought made panic rise up in his chest, made his new heart throb until it hurt, but he pursued it still. Could he </span>
  <em>
    <span>really</span>
  </em>
  <span> stay here without going completely insane? How was he supposed to understand, </span>
  <em>
    <span>really</span>
  </em>
  <span> understand humans when they couldn't understand him in turn? </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Providence could change his form a thousand times over, but she could never take away what he used to be. </span>
  <em>
    <span>That</span>
  </em>
  <span> was what set him apart, that invisible mark that kept him separate from the rest. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Again, the magnitude of her cruelty swept over him like a wave and something very like resentment made him curl his hand into a fist. She had never voluntarily come down to visit the humans. She only watched from afar, with her back turned to Mephistopheles.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mephistopheles had never thought of her as flawed before (how could she be?) but it struck him, hard, that she had wronged him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He didn't care.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He didn't want to go to the museum. He didn't want to spend another minute trapped in the prison of this body. He wanted to go </span>
  <em>
    <span>home</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>--</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Art museums had never really been Jojo's thing. As a rule, she tended to avoid activities where she'd be expected to wear shoes.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The air conditioning was nice, she supposed. She gave Lil's hand a squeeze and let it go so she could turn around and make sure Weirdo McGee hadn't wandered off somewhere. He seemed nice enough, but the bar for 'harmless' was a little higher than 'didn't try to kill me and my roommates in our sleep.'</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sock and Jonathan were over in the corner giggling over a nude statue. Jojo turned a full 360 degrees and huffed. Didn't it figure, Magical Mister Mephistopheles was nowhere to be found.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You lost him," she whispered across the room, knowing full well there was no way either Sock or Jonathan had heard her. She marched over to them, Lil in tow, and repeated, "You lost him."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Who?" said Sock. "Meph?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jonathan recoiled a bit. "Since when do you call him 'Meph'?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Since I realized that 'Mephistopheles' is kind of a mouthful."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jojo snapped her fingers. "Guys, focus."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"It's an art gallery," Jonathan said with a shrug. "It's not like you </span>
  <em>
    <span>have</span>
  </em>
  <span> to go through in groups. Weren't you and Lil about to leave me and Sock behind?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"It's not about that," Jojo started, but she stopped herself. She could waste time explaining what Jonathan was deliberately misunderstanding, or she could go track down her wayward hospital patient.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She chose the latter, spun on her heel, and marched away without another word.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The white walls of the museum and the blast of the air conditioning gave the whole place an eerie, hypermodern feel, a sort of clinical coldness that ill-suited the rich colors of the paintings lining the walls. The whole place felt half-finished and hostile.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jojo crossed her arms over her chest as she rounded the corner into the room they'd all just left. The place was neither crowded nor completely empty, but Mephistopheles stood out among the handful of bodies around him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jojo stomped over to him, heedless of the slap of her flip-flops against her heels, but the irritated remark she was going to make died on her lips when she saw how forlorn Mephistopheles looked. "What's your problem?" she asked instead, wincing when the words came out dry and accusatory instead of lighthearted like she'd intended.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I have this headache that comes and goes," Mephistopheles murmured, looking at her pointedly.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jojo fixed her gaze on the painting in front of them. The canvas was small and painted over with straight lines in varying colors. It was meaningless and kind of ugly and wouldn't have looked out of place in a dentist's waiting room. "Come on, I'm not stupid. I can tell somethings wrong "</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I--"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"--don't want to talk about it," Jojo interrupted.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You really </span>
  <em>
    <span>aren't </span>
  </em>
  <span>stupid."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You can't internalize this kind of stuff; you'll only feel worse." Jojo swallowed, her eyes still fixed on the painting. She was the </span>
  <em>
    <span>worst </span>
  </em>
  <span>person to do this job. Jonathan or Lil would have been better. They were both sensitive and knew how to make people </span>
  <em>
    <span>feel better</span>
  </em>
  <span>. All Jojo could do was stand here and poke at sore spots and shiver under the air conditioning feeling for all the world like she was about to have a tooth pulled.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mephistopheles laughed and stopped himself short, but he still stared down at Jojo with cruel amusement in his eyes. She had to fight not to squirm as she stared into those colorless irises, acutely aware of their height difference now that they were both standing facing each other.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You </span>
  <em>
    <span>will</span>
  </em>
  <span>," Jojo said emphatically. "I want-- I'm trying--" She broke off, her cheeks warm. Why did she even bother?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You think so?" Mephistopheles exhaled sharply through his nose, the last traces of amusement gone from his face.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jojo realized abruptly that his hands were shaking. She held eye contact. "It's fine if you don't want to talk to me, but you don't have to pretend to be okay. If you want to go lock yourself in the bathroom and cry until you can't feel your face, I'll tell the others not to bother you."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Um, pass, but thank you." </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>For a moment, they were silent. It didn't feel final, nor did it feel dismissive. Jojo tried, </span>
  <em>
    <span>hard</span>
  </em>
  <span>, to empathize. How would she feel if she was facing the world for the first time? "You don't seem scared."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I'm not."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You seem… Well."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"No, tell me."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Sad. You…" Jojo frowned and took a guess. "You left something --someone-- behind."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mephistopheles sighed and shoved his cast-free hand in his pocket. He didn't look at Jojo. "I didn't want to leave h-- Um." He stiffened. "Where I came from."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I didn't think you could get kicked out of a cult," Jojo said without thinking. Oh jeeze, if the cult thing was even </span>
  <em>
    <span>true</span>
  </em>
  <span>. Fuck.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Yeah, you have to be a real asshole," Mephistopheles said, smoothly recovering from whatever slip-up he had made.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jojo watched him slip back into glib confidence like a backstage costume change, but now she could see the worn spots in the fabric. Mephistopheles never really smiled, did he? He smirked and he flashed his teeth, but it wasn't quite the same.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I don't think you're an asshole," Jojo said. She wasn't yet sure it was true, but it seemed like the right thing to say.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Thanks. I'm touched."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"In the head," Jojo muttered. Mephistopheles only raised an eyebrow. Jojo carried on. "D'you want to get ice cream after this?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Why?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"It might make you feel better."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Again, Mephistopheles' expression hardened and he looked almost offended. Jojo leaned into it, ready to push back, but the anger never came. "Sure." He laughed humorlessly. "Let's get ice cream."</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Thanks for reading! If you happen to be keeping an eye on Seek, and Ye Shall Find, I promise I'm working on ittttt<br/>As always, feel free to point out any typos<br/>Find me on Tumblr as OurLordApollo</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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